Vineyards are often grown on hillsides to maximize the amount of sunlight that falls on the vineyard. For this reason, vineyards on steep hills provide sufficient drainage to reduce unnecessary water pooling, which often discourages plant undergrowth. However, fertilizing and monitoring and controlling pests and weeds around the vines remains an important process in viniculture. For instance, grass and weeds are one significant hurdle of a grape vine's proper growth. Typically, vines in a weed-infested vineyard struggle against the competition for water and nutrients from the weeds and grass growing adjacent to the vines.
One solution to suppressing weed growth in vineyards, and the like, is mulching. Mulching helps block sunlight to reduce unwanted ground cover undergrowth, and in addition the mulch reduces moisture loss to help keep the soil moist. However, mulching a vineyard has several disadvantages. For example, mulching a vineyard is costly, as rows and rows of individual vines require a significant volume of mulch for proper coverage, as well as costly maintenance personnel support. Further, mulch poses a fire hazard during hot, dry summers, as the vines are purposely positioned on the hillsides to be exposed to extended hours of direct sunlight. Additionally, in wet environments, or poorly-drained soils, the mulch may hold excessive moisture, thus forcing vine growth that may fail to harden off in the fall and resulting in collar rot (harm caused to the stem of the vine due to composting material), winter injury or the like.
Another traditional weed control solution on vineyard slopes is to landscape with newspapers, or the like, to decrease routine maintenance. Again, mulch is often applied on top of the newspapers for additional weed control and beautification. However, these traditional methods gradually fail, for example due to wear of the newspapers and sliding downhill due to wind, rain, foot traffic and the like. Further, weeds often grow through the newspapers, therefore diminishing the value of this type of maintenance procedure. Additionally, this newspaper strategy is not aesthetically appealing, which detracts from the countryside ambiance of the vineyard. Still further, the layer of newspapers may act as a shield to block nutrients from reaching the root system, for instance the benefits of natural leaf composting, and the like, may be lost.
As such, a further viniculture challenge is proper fertilization of the grape vines, both at a young age and during mature growth. Therefore, organic and inorganic material of natural and synthetic origin are added to the soil surrounding the vines to supply one or more plant nutrients that are essential for maximizing healthy plant growth. However, erosion, and the like, of the fertilizer is common due to the steep slopes of vineyards. Further, the traditional weed and grass control methods described above often pose a challenge to fertilization.
Therefore, Applicants desire systems and methods for harmonizing weed/grass control and fertilizing without the drawbacks presented by the traditional systems and methods, while minimizing environmental impact.